overlord said:

I know that MS is an all time great.

But you are always talking titles and Earl has the titles........

Earl started playing professionally in 1979 and on top of the titles was the 1 million dollar run.

Earl was never a big straight pool player. There was at least a decade of overlap in their careers.

I believe Earl said that he and Mike played an action match in a barn somewhere, early on.

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Good post, See where you are coming from. Still, despite early retirement, Mike’s resume of titles is a mile long. Even so, your point is important and even I noted how Mike’s early retirement complicated the comparison.

Black-Balled said:

Grand openings normally occur after soft openings...ya know.

People are playing there.

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oh I believe you! Just not sure if Joe Blow can walk in off the street. I believe the delay is the usual permitting slog.

Black-Balled said:

'ezzakly:
I've often wondered who the money-maker is for the umb (is)? The pursuit of supporters is a full time specialized job.

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The 'USBA' is the furtest form of an Real organzation connected toi the UMB!

Apples to Oranges wouldn't even be a close comparison!

Lft cue

freds said:

Dunno about that, but yes on FB the USBA says Sept 11

"September 11, 2026
This is the expected date for the opening of a Brand new Billiard Room in Peabody MA. Stay tuned Ladies and Gentleman."

View attachment 926439

September 11, 2026 | Facebook

September 11, 2026 This is the expected date for the opening of a Brand new Billiard Room in Peabody MA. Stay tuned Ladies and Gentleman.

www.facebook.com

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Grand openings normally occur after soft openings...ya know.

People are playing there.

dtroup64 said:

Pretty sure the Fedor Dominguez match is tomorrow.

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Correct. Type was so small I misread it.

Black-Balled said:

Did you see Facebook or can someone check there for you?

I believe new place is in soft opening now...people are playing there.

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Dunno about that, but yes on FB the USBA says Sept 11

"September 11, 2026
This is the expected date for the opening of a Brand new Billiard Room in Peabody MA. Stay tuned Ladies and Gentleman."

Went back and was watching some of the old Billiards Network games that they had Earl commentate was making me think about a few things

1. Outstanding content for anyone trying to improve their game, patterns, and cue ball control. Earl goes about it in his own way, but he really does a good job of describing all of the different shots.

2. The comment section of these games is almost 100% positive, which is insane for any YouTube video, much less something involving a figure as controversial as Earl.

Some of Earl's wiring is off, no doubt about that, but these videos are awesome and I'm glad they'll be around forever because Earl won't be!

Keeping my eye on young Americans.

I really like Harrison Leinen. He is just 18, but has a ton of game. One of the best youngsters in the country. Never saw him until he played in the Florida Open. Won his first US Open match handily, but lost 9-3 to Carlo Biado.

Leinen had his chances. He overran position a number of times, however, and his kicking game was terrible.

He really needs to work on kicks. I've seen him miss at least 5-6 kicks entirely in the last few weeks to give up ball in hand. Most of them he shot too hard.


Nathan Childress, 23, has improved a lot this year. Didn't really see that coming.

Won his first match easily and then got past the workmanlike Greek, Dimitris Loukatos, 9-5. Childress lost to Loukatos a month earlier at the Vice City event, 9-2.

Childress beat Moritz Neuhausen, 10-7, in Arizona for his biggest career victory. He also gave Arizona runnerup Aleksa Pecelj a tussle before losing 10-6.

Didn’t do so well in Florida, though. Lost 9-1 to … Lenin and by the same score to Nicholas Tan to get ousted.

Solid ball pocketer and pretty good positioning. I think he has to work on his body and get stronger. Being a top pro is grueling.

He has played in every big WNT event this year and lots of smaller ones. I don’t know what his ceiling is, but he sure is trying to see if he belongs as a pro.

IbeAnEngineer said:

Ronnie Sullivan still uses Triangle..

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And other players have asked for it to be banned

jbart65 said:

It is not. Only the TV table (Table 1) in the early rounds.

Later in the day, the winner-side matches will give us more meat. Top matches listed so far:

AJ Manas vs Jayson Shaw
Denis Grabe vs Petri Makkonen
Fedor Gorst vs Oscar Dominguez

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Pretty sure the Fedor Dominguez match is tomorrow.

easy-e said:

Real straight pool takes more patience than I possess, which is also why I don't like to play one pocket.

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Which is why my high run is 15.

Pocket Change said:

I’m aware of Mazin Shooni and his 3c prowess. My error on the name.
So I’ve been in the area for over a week and still nothing. I went by the Peabody address and couldn’t find anything going on. It’s in an industrial park. Anyway I’m not sure if it’s the city permits or capital or some combination has them in limbo but I don’t see them coming back soon. I hope not.
Where else are the better halls in the Boston north shore area? I don’t like Valley coin ops in a bowling alley!

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Did you see Facebook or can someone check there for you?

I believe new place is in soft opening now...people are playing there.

Always a wellington.

RIP, Mr. Bond.

BigBreakSheikhYT said:

I have to say I don't like the way Darren went about it, but there is no real reason to be using master chalk in 2026 pro play. I know this forum leans towards an older crowd who love master, but there is no doubt that it makes the balls and tables much much dirtier than modern chalks like V10 / pagulayan/ ghost / titlist. If you play against someone who uses master chalk with this much on the line, you would be tempted to ask the ref to clean the cue ball every time you came to the table, because even if there is a 1% chance of a skid, you wouldn't want to take the risk.

I honestly think chalks should be regulated in the near future, because if someone rocks up to a big tournament using predator 1080, they're gonna be spraying blue dust all over the table and the balls and causing skids and weird rolls which are just unacceptable at this level of play.

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Masters doesn't make the table dirtier. I play alone three times as much as with others on my table. My table looks great until my friends with the expensive chalks come over. The table is filthy after a session. I don't mind, but I joked about it to one of my friends and now he brings masters to my place, I wish he wouldn't and feel bad about the joke, but that is the type of guy he is.

Over chalking is what's makes tables dirty. Chalking every shot is absolutely unnecessary.